Tile-laying attachment



July 8, 1952 s. A. VAUGHN TILE-LAYING ATTACHMENT Filed NOV. 13, 1946 IN V EN TOR. (EvAvvAmafiN Patented July 8, Q52

TILE-LAYING ATTACHMENT George A. Vaughn, Newton, Iowa,-assignor to The Parsons Company, Newton, Iowa, a corporation Application November 13, 1946, Serial No. 709551 3 Claims.

My present invention pertains to the art of laying tile in ditches or trenches and includes novel instrumentalities useful in performing such tilelaying operations.

In Figure 1 of my drawings 12 have illustrate a somewhat conventional type of wheel ditching or trenching machine generally designated at A. Such machines are commonly known to those In carrying out my invention the general versed in this art and include the trench cutting method employed utilizes a machine in the form or dig wheel I having the buckets 2 q pp ofan excavating wheel or like ditching machine with cutting teeth 3 in the customary manner. that is progressively advanced in the formation The. frame of Such a Conventional ditching ordiggihg of the trench 0r ditch in which the tile machine is equipped with a plow 4' adapted to is laid. The said machine carries a tile chuting operate at the bottom and side portions 'of the appurtenance comprising guide means for guidtrench aVa by means of eXeavati-n'g ingthe tiles in a gravitative manner toward the d t Wheel d t e r e d o the frame of bottom of the trench as the latter is excavated. the x avat is qu pp th a ik ten- Broadly'this type of machine and method of sion-5comprising a vertical member or members operation has been heretofore'proposed in the art Supporting a platform 6 On which the p to as'for instance exemplified by United StatesPat- WhO handles t tile laying WOIK y Stand ft ent #895,439 issued August 11, 1908. the manner depicted in Figure l. The extension The novel feature ofthis invention lies in the 5 is built to pp the tile t v ce 00 use of my machine for progressive forward moveprising a plurality of" parallel bars 0011116011661 ment to excavate the trench in which the'tile is together y meflhs'ofan pp U-Shapedmember to belaid; manually depositing the tile to avoid 8" a a w e r -s ap' d an r supp rt 9'. any digging act-ion of the ends of the tile, and The supp rt member 9 is p v y n t d at as the tiles are being laid causing the machine to t to h rear end of the extension 5 of the tile perform a blind filling operationtodetach dir't y n attachment and t e ember 8 is confrom the sides of the trench previously excavated, neeted Said extension 5 y meeHS Of O e O whereby said dirt will fall to the bottom of the more connector plates ars p vo 'v trench at oppositeof th tiles previ0us1y' deposattached tothe member'8 at its rear end or'their ited by the meth d of operation b v t, f th, rear ends and adj'ustably connected at its ortheir The instrumentalities for eifecting the above from; ends e eXtensiOn 5 a by ans of a blind filling operation comprisecertain specific fastening member apted member a Selected novel features hereof, one orones of a series 'ofop'enings inthe exten My-invention will be understood upon reference $1011 5. to the following detailed description, in c'onjunc- The guide members rods 7 D t it th d drawings, i hi the skeleton chuting device are curved at their Figure 1' is a side View illustrating th re d lower ends-ina'forward directionfrom thegerreral portion of a conventional type of ditching inclination of the bodies of said rods and these machine as modified in frame construction to rods may be Welded or otherwise attached to the ar -y y' v tile lay tta m t structure, members a ands as seen by reference to Figure '2 the illustration depicting the fresh tiles being t drawing muted 'gravitatively f w w in the detaining 40 At the lower ends of the rods or chuting device h ready f deposltmg 'mn operation comprising the members I, said rods are equipped g g'sggggi fl g gg gi g gg fifiggg up of the with stops l3 which-are adaptedto abut with the Figure 2 is an enlarged cross sectionalview l9werven-d of the'lowgrmost we of thagmup of taken approximately on the section line 2-2 of 5 gia i g figi zfi g of benglg chuted Flgure By reason of the rovision of the st 13 the Figure 3 is ahorizontal' sectional view showing b d t th h P more particularly the blind filling scraper devices 1 es W1 a m c u mg t e that loosen the dirt at the opposite side of the g n l e f Flgurelvwhen trench excavated, for falling on the bottom of the summed deuce m fl Smce' the trench at oppositetsides .oflaid tiles lower end of the chutlngdev ce is spaced some Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view bringing Q? above the 0f the rench it will outimore'clearly the arrangementof theiparts of s that t 151165 chuting device} Figure 3 as when in operation,- in relation to the e fi y 'e 10Wf5mw$t-0he1eady 1305 be del vtile already depositedontthe-bottomiorthe-trench. e t e' r iw l' b supported above the said bottom of the trench against unauthorized displacement.

In rear of the plow 4 there extends a supporting member l4 equipped with a shoe I5 adapted to ride on the bottom of the trench excavated by the wheel buckets 2 and teeth 3, such shoe forming a longitudinal groove or recess in the bottom of said trench, the purpose of which is to center or stabilize the tiles [6 in positions longitudinally centrally on the trench bottom. The recess or groove formed is designated I! in Figure 4.

Mounted on the rear end of the extension 5 of the title laying attachment is the blind filling attachment of my invention which comprises the opposite scrapers i8 carried by horizontal varms 19, one on the rear end of each arm. The arms 19 are pivoted at their forward ends at 20 to the extension 5. The said arms i9 are furthermore normally pressed apart by means of expansion coiled springs 2| encircling a rod 22 the ends of which pass guidingly through the middle portions of the arms IS, the outer ends of the springs 2i bearing against the inner surfaces of adjacent arms and the inner ends of the spring 2! having a common bearing abutment 23 located at the middle of the rod 22.

The scraping elements l8 are positioned so that they are engaged in the normal progressive forward movement of my machine with the sidewalls of the trench a short distance below the top of the trench, see Figure 3, and as the ditching machine moves forwardly the scrapers is automaticall loosen material from the sides of the trench so that it may be caused to fall down to the bottom of the, trench. This operation is depicted in a general way in Figure 4 in a selfevident manner,

It is proposed to utilize one or more of the guide rods 1 at each side of the chuting device, each pair or more of a series of such rods being suitably spaced from the opposite pair or series of such rods in the manner shown in Figure 2 so that the tiles [6 may slide down the rods more closely spaced together or farther spaced apart, depending upon the diiierent sizes of tile E6 to be handled. In Figure 2 a small tile is shown in full lineas cooperating with the lowermost of the guide rods and other sizes of tiles that may be handled by the chuting device are illustrated by dotted lines in a general way.

With the foregoing construction of my machine in mind the operation of the machine will now be set forth.

The ditching machine will be operated in the customary way by the operator who is seated on themachine for controlling the various driving instrumentalities of the latter. The tile laying operation is performed by a separate operator who stands on the platform 6 previously referred to in the manner illustrated in Figure 1. The tile laying operator will be equipped with a pole or stair having a tile carrying hook, the staff designated 24 and the hook 25. This operator grasps the pole or staff 24 and in order to deposit a tile in the trench 26 he will engage the hook with the internal portion of the tile 16 lowermost in the chuting device l1. He will then detach this lowermost tile from the chuting device by lifting it out of engagement with the stops [3 and holding the tile in a horizontal position with its axis substantially parallel with the bottom of the trench he will lower the tile in an accurate vertical line of movement to carry the tile with its rear end into close juxtaposition with the front end of the previously laid tile.

In the above manner of operation, of course, there will be notendency of the tile last deposited digging by its rear end into the bottom of the trench to move dirt in a position that would space the tiles apart in respect to the finally laid conduit.

Of course, during the above method of operation the ditching machine will be progressively moving forward building the trench by its digging action, while the tile operator is supported in standing position on the platform 6 and properly manipulating the tile in the manner set forth.

When the operator removes the lowermost tile 16 in the chuting device the tiles above said lowermost tile will gravitate down the chuting device and come to a stop when the next lowermost tile abuts with the stop members l3.

The dirt dislodged by the scrapers l8 drops to the trench bottom on opposite sides of the tile, and holds the tile in place, or centered on the trench bottom, in case of wash from water being drained, cave-ins, or wash from rain.

Ihe rod 22 has end nuts 22a which by adjustment will adjust the arms 19 outwardly or inwardly for Various widths of trenches operated on by the scrapers I8, and said nuts prevent the displacement of the arms I8 from connection with the rod 22.

Plates la carry the rods l and if only one rod is on each plate, the plate may be held by and adjusted on the member 8 or 9, as the case may be by a bolt lb, the adjustment being obtained by the bolt lb for each plate 1a, adapted to pass through a selected opening 10 of several provided in the member 8 or member 9.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent of the United States is:

1. For use with tile-laying means having trench forming means and a trailing extension traveling in the formed trench, scraping means attached to said extension intermediate the top and bottom of the formed trench, said scraping means comprising a pair of arms extending rearwardly from said extension, each of said arms being connected at one end to said extension and carrying a scraper at the other end, and means between said arms urging the scrapers against the side Walls of the formed trench.

2. For use with tile-laying means having trench forming means and a box-dike trailing extension adapted to travel in the formed trench, scraping means attached tothe rear of said extension, intermediate the top and bottom of the formed trench, said scraping means comprising a pair of arms disposed in a substantially horizontal plane, each of said arms being pivoted at one end to the rear of said extension and carrying a scraper on the other end, and resilient means between said arms urging the scrapers against the side walls of the formed trench.

3. Scraping means as claimed in claim 2, wherein saidresilient means comprise spring means.

- GEORGE A. VAUGHN.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS I Name Date Hooton Feb. 6, 1872 Number (Other references on following page) UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Barnett July 9, 1872 Campbell June 6, 1876 Reynolds June 20, 1876 Barnes Sept. 18, 1883 Newton May 20, 1884 Anderson Apr. 28, 1885 Keith Sept. 29, 1885 McMullin Apr. 19, 1887 Cobb Mar. 26, 1901 Schopf Nov. 18, 1902 DeYoung Aug. 11, 1908 Arps Jan. 31, 1911 Number Number 

